Evaluating Pain in a Non-Verbal Patient

Question:

Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts,"Is there a scale that can be used to evaluate pain in a patient who is nonverbal or unresponsive and cannot use the traditional number or face scales?

Answer:

Erin McMenamin, MSN, CRNP, AOCN, Pain Medicine Nurse Practitioner and Program Manager at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, responds:

If a patient is nonresponsive, we generally assume that he or she is not responding to pain. As for nonverbal patients, we use a rating of nonverbal indicators and assess if these indicators are present at rest and/or with movement (see below). One point is given for each "yes" response, resulting in a score on a 0-12 scale.